UBC Thunderbirds’ Kris Young (left) attempts to drive under the close watch of Calgary Dinos’ Tamara Jarrett during Canada West conference action Friday at UBC’s War Memorial Gymnasium. Young averaged 20 points and 8.5 rebounds over the weekend as the Birds beat both Calgary and Lethbridge. (Richard Lam, UBC athletics)

VANCOUVER — The UBC Thunderbirds’ women’s basketball team will take some positive vibes into the Canada West’s holiday break after a weekend sweep of the Calgary Dinos and Lethbridge Pronghorns at War Memorial Gymnasium.

The unranked Thunderbirds pushed its Pacific Division record to 7-3 to sit in a tie with Thompson Rivers for second place in the standings, two games behind the No. 2-ranked Fraser Valley Cascades (9-1), which dropped its first conference game of the season on Saturday, 59-55 to No. 3 Regina.

The Birds were in control throughout on Saturday with a 74-57 win over the Pronghorns (5-5), but the real key moments of the weekend took place in Friday’s 70-58 win over the previously undefeated and No. 8-ranked Dinos (9-1).

A Calgary team building its reputation this season with focused, aggressive defence and high steal numbers, rattled UBC into 28 turnovers on the night, but when it mattered, a young UBC core stepped up and battled through the physicality to earn one of its bigger victories this season.

“I was surprised at halftime that we turned the ball over as many times as we did but that we still had a little bit of a lead,” ‘Birds head coach Deb Huband explained. “I guess with a young team like we have, playing through that physicality and maintaining your composure is not as easy. But we made some adjustments in the second half and handled their pressure a lot better.”

Kris Young, UBC’s third-year floor general, scored seven straight points during a game-turning stage of the third quarter and finished with 18 points and nine rebounds. Senior forward Leigh Stansfield led all scorers with 21. The next night against Lethbridge, Young scored a game-high 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds.

*In NCAA Div. 2 action, the No. 16-ranked Simon Fraser Clan (2-0) remained perfect over the first week of Great Northwest Athletic Conference play with an 80-38 win over visiting Western Oregon on Saturday in the West Gym. Guard Kia Van Laare led the Clan with a game-high 18 points, all coming from a 6-of-8 effort from beyond the arc.

MEN’S BASKETBALL CIS No. 4-ranked UBC (8-2) takes a one-game lead over both No. 6 Fraser Valley (7-3) and Victoria (7-3) into the break following weekend wins over Calgary (82-63) on Friday, and Lethbridge (96-84) on Saturday. The Cascades and Vikes kept pace Saturday with respective wins over Regina (82-68) and Calgary (72-68). UBC’s victory over the Pronghorns on Saturday represented the 200th conference win for head coach Kevin Hanson. Brylle Kamen had 26 points and 21 rebounds in the win, his caroms total just two shy of the program’s single-game record set by Aaron Point in 1987.

*In GNAC men’s action atop Burnaby Mountain, the SFU Clan opened its conference season against defending Div. 2 national champion Western Washington, falling to the Vikings 93-76. Clan forward David Gebru, a transfer from Div. 1 Western Illinois, made his SFU home conference debut by scoring a game-high 34 points.

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL No. 8-ranked UBC produced a massive weekend effort in Winnipeg, sweeping the host and No. 4-ranked Manitoba Bisons. UBC won 3-2 on Friday and then came back even stronger on Saturday with a 3-1 win that featured a marathon 34-32 victory in the second set. The sweep, which extended the team’s winning streak to seven, moved UBC (8-4) past the Bisons (7-4) into fourth place in the conference standings at the winter break. “From defence to blocking to serving, we really took care of things on our side,” said UBC head coach Richard Schick.

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL Five-time defending CIS champion UBC appears set to move back into the top spot in the national rankings this week. The No. 2 Thunderbirds (11-1) didn’t surrender a set over the weekend in sweeping the host Manitoba Bisons 3-0 Friday and Saturday. No. 1 Trinity Western, however, the only team to beat UBC this season, was upset 3-1 (25-19, 13-25, 26-24, 25-17) Saturday evening in Kelowna by the young and talented UBC Okanagan Heat which came through with poised play over a match-deciding third set.

HOCKEY The UBC men (9-6-1) sit in fourth place in the Canada West after splitting a pair of games, including a 3-0 loss Saturday to visiting Regina (7-7-2). UBC opened the two-game weekend set Friday with a 3-0 win over the Cougars. The UBC women (7-6-3) are also in fourth, but have lost three in a row heading into the break. The ‘Birds were swept in their weekend series at second-place Regina (12-4-0), including a 5-1 loss on Saturday.

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